Fading Inspiration
by Qwilfman
Summary: Simon Treble and his twin sister Angela are setting out to become trainers, without any particular goal in mind. And they (kind of) get along... While they try to explore all corners of the Hoenn region and more, Simon realizes that the life of a trainer isn't all daisies and sunshine. Will he fall victim to the tragedies that surround him and lose sight of what's really important?


**Chapter 1: Moderately Humble**

After plenty of impatience and glaring at our calendar, April 5th finally rolled around. My twin sister, Angela, and I were turning ten today and our parents had given in to our demands to become Pokémon trainers. They were allowing us to forgo the rest of our schooling, just as so many other trainers were allowed to. Our parents also promised that we could have starters for our birthday, given that we both knew which Pokémon we wanted (within reason). Naturally, the only thing that could stand between me and my immediate immersion into the life of a trainer was Angela.

So all of my anger was directed right at _a certain someone_ when that _someone_ was indecisive.

"Angela, seriously! Make up your mind!" I yelled when she told our dad she still wasn't sure what she wanted. It was unfair that I couldn't have my Aron yet just because my sister was being frustrating.

"Chill, Simon!" she retorted, catching me with a cold stare from her dark brown eyes. "I'm getting closer to making up my mind. I've got it narrowed down to Clefairy, Swablu, Torkoal, or umm... Riolu. Or maybe Oshawott..."

At that point our mom interrupted. "Angela, honey, Oshawott are pretty rare even in Unova. And that's thousands of miles away. I think our chances of getting you an Oshawott in Hoenn are slim to none. Same thing with Riolu. Doesn't mean we can't do it, but... Why don't you pick one of your other choices so you and Simon can get started on your journeys?" At least somebody was on my side!

Too bad my dad wasn't.

"If she's not sure what she wants, let's not rush her. I know I wouldn't want to be given a Pokémon I wasn't one hundred percent sure about." And that is how I got cheated out of a Pokémon on my tenth birthday. Angela promptly thanked him as a justified grin spread across her face. He always took her stupid side...

The day still went well altogether, despite my annoyance. It was, of course, our birthday and we had a lovely party planned for this day. Since there weren't many kids our age in our hometown of Slateport City (or at least, not any that we were friends with), we basically only had relatives over at our joint birthday party. But still, any day with our uncle Gary was a day well spent. Uncle Gary was a gym trainer for Wattson over in Mauville City. This meant he had some cool electric Pokémon, like Pikachu and Flaaffy. Angela and I always enjoyed the times when he came over, even though it usually put our parents on edge. Today, to their relief, he showed up with only his starter Pokémon, a Pikachu named Jenna.

And Jenna wasn't the only Pokémon at our party. Gary's wife, Lisa, also brought her starter, Romeo. Romeo was a _very_ laidback Monferno that Lisa had received on her tenth birthday when she lived in Sinnoh. Romeo and Jenna were actually our inspirations for becoming trainers. They were so good at battling, and they made the life of a trainer look downright awesome. We spent even more time with them than usual on our birthday; our journeys were very close to beginning and we wanted to share our excitement with a couple of Pokémon. They, along with a delicious marble cake made by our mom, made our tenth birthday party just wonderful.

That night, after all our aunts and uncles and cousins and even our neighbors left, we continued to celebrate by devouring popcorn and watching movies about Pokémon trainers. We would have stayed awake all night out of excitement (for the second night in a row, actually), but we were simply too tired. I was totally out by 10:00 and my dreams were... Well, they were a bit off-putting.

First of all, my parents were wearing ski masks. They were following me around through the Slateport market while I casually window-shopped.

My dad decided to interrupt my sauntering. "Simon, your sister is putting a lot more thought into her first Pokémon than you have."

"Dad, I've wanted a Stunky for almost two years now." Wait, why did I tell him that? I've wanted an Aron! I'm sure of it...

"Your father's right..." my mom spoke up. "You should consider your options a little more. Otherwise your Pokémon might just eat you."

I gasped. "That's horrifying!"

"Yes, it certainly is," she responded. "It will pour gravy over your head and swallow you whole, no chewing involved. Well, maybe a little chewing. Now you should go to bed and get some sleep. Tomorrow's a big day! You'll finally be ten years old!"

"I am ten..." I looked back and forth between the two of them, perplexity written on my face. "...What's wrong with you two?"

At that, they both yelled at me. "Wake up!"

And I obeyed. Probably because Angela was standing in my bedroom doorway, telling me to get up. Without trying to comprehend anything she was saying to me, I looked over at the clock on my wall. 7:44 am... I turned back over onto my side, pretending I was going to continue sleeping. It wasn't working. Even though deep down I knew I was technically done with school, I was mad at her for waking me up this early during spring break. Yeah, I don't claim to be a rational thinker.

Still, through the hazy barrier that was my immature anger, I realized I was listening to Angela enough to hear her say, "...out getting our Pokémon for us right now."

"They are?" I beamed at her, anger completely gone. I put my glasses on and literally rolled out of bed, ready and excited for the day ahead of me.

"Yeah, they said they should be back by 8:30," she replied, equally ecstatic.

"Does that mean you finally decided which Pokémon you want? What did you choose?" Her smile vanished and she gave me that _"Are you serious?"_ look I was a little too familiar with.

"Haven't you heard a single word I just said?" she demanded, tossing her long curls of brown hair behind her shoulder.

Whether that was a rhetorical question or not, I answered her right away, "No."

She glared at me for what she probably intended to be an annoyingly long time, then sighed and said, "Well then, I guess you'll find out later. Won't you?"

"Yeah, I guess so..." I said, not wanting to argue so early in the morning. I got up, took a shower, squirmed into my default grey hoodie and jeans, and scarfed down some burnt toast. I was sitting in my living room, watching television and idly thinking to myself that learning how to cook better would be vital for a soon-to-be trainer, when my parents returned. Of course, I didn't hesitate to nearly tackle them and exclaim, "Did you get me an Aron!?" Although they pretended to be mad at me for assaulting them, their looks said it all. "Angela, they're back!" And my twin leapt into the room.

"Yay! You guys are home! You got our Pokémon for us, right?"

Our dad sighed and walked past us. "Why can't you two give us a second to breathe? Gosh, honey, these kids - I wonder if they think shouting at us will get them their Pokémon faster..." I rolled my eyes as I turned to face him. I heard Angela start tapping her foot. Maybe appearing impatient wasn't the best way to get our hands on our birthday presents, in hindsight. But he didn't mention anything about me and Angela not receiving our Pokémon, so my excitement was unabashed by my dad's snarky attitude.

Angela visibly calmed herself, then with deliberate patience, asked, "May we please have our Pokémon?"

Our mom caught our attention and happily handed us each one Pokéball. "Thank you!" we said in unison.

"You're welcome," our mom replied, but when we made off to go to our bedrooms, our dad stopped us.

"Hold on a minute." It was quiet, but we were not going to make him repeat himself, not when his voice held that unmistakable tone of authority. "You're both packed and ready to go, right?" We nodded, again with intentional patience. "Now I know the two of you don't always get along perfectly," he understated. Where was he going with this? "But your mother and I think you should travel together."

"Come on, dad!" I blurted out. I glanced at my mom, who was nodding in agreement with my dad. Angela and I didn't hate each other, but we hadn't really planned on touring Hoenn together.

"Hear me out, Simon. We're not going to force you two to stay together. Arceus knows we really can't..." Quite a valid point, I thought. "But plenty of trainers have traveling companions. It wouldn't be way out of the ordinary for two young trainers like yourselves to stick together, and frankly, it would help me sleep better at night if I knew you were at least trying to keep each other safe. Plus, you might actually enjoy it."

I was speechless. Our dad wasn't one to bear his heart to others like this. That made me consider what he just said even more seriously. Really, traveling with Angela couldn't be that bad, could it?

Our mom interjected, "Could you guys do that for us?" I was still thinking about it while Angela hesitantly nodded. I decided right then that we would learn to cooperate, and I joined her nod with slightly more enthusiasm.

"Great," said our dad. "Then you can go get your things now." We both jogged off to our respective bedrooms, uninterrupted this time. I made sure the Pokéball my mom had given me was in my pocket, then grabbed my backpack and threw it over my shoulders. It was already full of extra clothing, a few Pokéballs, some potions, a map, and as much long-lasting food as it could hold after everything else was squeezed in. After striding out of my bedroom, hastily returning when I remembered to grab my wallet and my phone, and exchanging excited looks with Angela in the hallway, the two of us returned to our living room to say goodbye to our parents.

"Well, let's not make this a long goodbye," our mom suggested. I was grateful for that. "I know you both want to get started on your... new lives. Besides, it's not like we won't be able to speak to you. You both have your cell phones, right?" We smiled and nodded. She sighed and with an air of fishing for what to say next, she matched our smiles and simply said, "Good luck."

"So now you should walk over to the Pokémon Center to get your training licenses," our dad instructed. He seemed as determined as our mom was to get through this farewell in good time. "Then, the best place to go for new trainers would be Route 103." This was a discussion we'd already had in passing. The Pokémon around Slateport were a little strong for beginners to face, so many trainers starting in Slateport or Mauville would make the trek across Route 110 to reach an area where the wild Pokémon were a bit weaker. We could get to Route 103 by heading all the way up north to the Trick House and taking a left turn, passing through a small forest, then paying for a ferry across the river.

But the Trick House was a place that I wholeheartedly sought to avoid. I had only been there once, but the creepy memories of that wretched place had kept me awake at night on probably more than a dozen occasions (so far). The building was too easy to find yourself lost in, the owner was an absolute nutjob, and all in all it just didn't make for a very good seventh birthday party. Never mind that Angela seemed to love the place. However, it _was_ a landmark, and there was most likely no way to avoid going near it if we wanted to get to Route 103.

"...and then I guess you're on your own once you're there. We'll miss you guys - sorry, guy and gal - but," he paused. He seemed unusually hesitant. "Ah, nevermind. Get on out there and make us proud."

"Oh, and don't forget to call us sometimes," our mom added hastily. I could almost hear Angela rolling her eyes. A silent, somewhat awkward moment passed. Our mom forced a chuckle. Kind of odd, I thought, but I passed it off as her being nervous or something. "Well, Dad and I have a movie to catch, so you two gotta go."

We waved and said quick goodbyes, and then we were out. That was pretty fast, and only a little awkward.

Angela and I both slid down the railings of our front porch and set off at a brisk walk down the sidewalk towards the Pokémon Center. For a moment we were both too excited to speak, or really do anything other than relish this new era in our lives while we mindlessly continued to walk, until Angela reminded me that we now had Pokémon. They were the reason we were becoming trainers at this very moment.

Thus, with quite a bit of anticipation, we both released our very first Pokémon.

The bright light of two Pokéballs simultaneously releasing their inhabitants blinded me for a second, but as soon as that cleared I saw two Pokémon looking up at their new trainers. The first one I got a good look at was a small four-legged creature with brown fur and six tails - _I don't remember Angela expressing a desire for a Vulpix_ - and the other was a compact ball of metal that was only about two-thirds as tall as the other, also with four legs. It sported a large oval head and icy blue eyes that were fixed on mine. It was my Aron. As I smiled at it, I barely had time to form the thought that this moment was _special_ before I was lying on the ground with over 100 pounds of iron and endless energy on my torso.

For some reason, the thought crossed my mind that my Pokémon was trying to eat me, but that quickly passed. My Aron couldn't have such patricidal intentions. But over the course of the next second and a half, I realized something very important.

Whatever my Aron's intentions were, it needed to get off of me, because I couldn't breathe!

"H-help... me..." I choked out, pushing this dense little creature with one hand and attempting to tap out with the other. How did such a small Pokémon weigh so much? If it weren't for Angela coming to my rescue and coaxing my Pokémon off of my chest, I probably would have passed out, at the very least. The Aron rolled off my torso, but continued to nudge my side while I regained my breath. Even that hurt a little, but it was preferable to being crushed. "Well, aren't you affectionate?"

It turned to look me in the eyes and gave me a huge grin. "Aron! Ron aron rar!" I took that as an affirmative. I couldn't even summon the will to sit up quite yet, so I just turned my head to glance at Angela and her Pokémon. While she was watching my Aron to make sure she didn't have to intervene again, her Vulpix was sitting on the ground behind her, observing the three creatures in front of it with mild intrigue. It stood up after a few seconds and made a noise that caught Angela's attention, so she forgot about my problems and created her own.

"Oh, you're such a cutie!" she cooed. Her Vulpix simply met her gaze and sat back down. She happily sat down next to it, stroking its fur while she continued blabbering away. I couldn't tell whether it was happy or upset when its six tails started wagging. Its facial expression did nothing to give away its emotions.

Once again, my Aron tried to climb onto my chest. I realized this would keep happening if I continued lying on the sidewalk, so I finally sat up (only then did I realize how uncomfortable I had been, laying down on my backpack full of what was essentially everything I owned), gently keeping my Pokémon at bay as I did so. It looked distraught, so I patted its head and let it nuzzle into my lap while I twisted into an awkward cross-legged position. "You're like a little metal teddy bear," I said aloud, not even sure whether I was saying it so my Aron could hear, or just voicing my thoughts to myself. It smiled and accepted my opinion as a compliment. A thought hit me and I blurted it out instantly. "I know! I'll call you Teddy." At that, the little Aron hopped up and licked my face. "Gross, Teddy!" So Teddy it was.

As it turns out, Angela was also attempting to name her Vulpix, for five seconds later I heard, "Oh sorry! You don't want to be called Maggie, girl? How about Jasmine?" Her Vulpix growled and shook its head. Angela snorted. "Simon, she keeps growling... Oh, I've got a perfect name! You are now..." she paused for effect. I mentally drumrolled for my own amusement. "Kayla!" The resulting wisp of flames that emanated from the Vulpix's mouth barely missed Angela's face. She shrieked and nearly fell backwards while I stifled a laugh. "Vulpix, you're being mean!" she whined. It scowled, but was at least tactful enough to make an apologetic whimper.

I decided to speak in the Vulpix's defense. "Angela, maybe your Vulpix is a boy..." But how could we be sure? The answer to that question popped into my head almost as soon as I considered it. I remembered a lesson during school in which we learned that almost any information about a trainer's Pokémon could be found on a small screen on the Pokéball. Sure enough, when I located this screen on Teddy's Pokéball, it displayed his gender, along with all the other important information that could fit onto such a small screen, such as his species and type. "Look at the screen on its Pokéball," I told her.

She grudgingly listened, and then promptly blushed. "Yeah, I guess he is a boy. But I thought Vulpix were usually girls, so..." she trailed off, looking down at her Vulpix. He just seemed somewhat glad that she was aware of his gender. "So no calling you Kayla, huh? That's too bad, I like that name... I can call you Kayle instead," she suggested. The Pokémon made a gesture that was probably as close to a shrug as a Vulpix was capable of. "Yay! You didn't try to burn me! Then your name is Kayle, sir." She then explained to him that her name was Angela and that she was his new trainer, in so many words.

I did the same for Teddy. "Okay, Teddy." My Aron perked up at the use of his new name. "I'm Simon and I'm your trainer now," I said, standing up. I remembered that we were supposed to be on our way to the Slateport Pokémon Center and amended, "Well, I'm not actually a trainer yet. But I'm going to be one very, very soon. And you'll be my first Pokémon!" While Teddy once again happily nudged the side of my leg, I looked back at his Pokéball to see what else it showed. He was level five, his ability was Rock Head (whatever that meant), he didn't have a specified original trainer yet, and he knew four moves: Mud-Slap, Harden, Tackle, and Head Smash. Interesting... "Hey, Angela. I think we should get going." She nodded and all four of us started to walk towards the Pokémon Center.

"Simon, how do you think Kayle knew that the names I tried to give him were girl names?" Angela ventured. "I mean, they're human names. To him those names can't mean anything, can they?"

"Hmm, that's a good point..." I said. But I had an idea on the matter. "Maybe he didn't actually recognize the names as girl names, but he knew that you thought he was a girl and you were naming him like one."

She crinkled her nose in confusion. Then she giggled and said, "I guess he's pretty smart if that's the case, isn't he?"

"Must be..." I mumbled, my thoughts turning to my own Pokémon. Teddy didn't really seem dumb, but he hadn't demonstrated that he was super intelligent. But then again, how could I be sure what to think about this Aron that I'd only known for a matter of minutes? Surely, there was more to him than what I'd witnessed.

As I thought this, Teddy decided to headbutt my leg, causing me to trip and fall behind Angela and Kayle. I sighed. "This relationship can really only get better."


End file.
